Feds Order Two Indiana Coal Plants To Keep Running Through Fall
The U.S. Department of Energy has issued emergency orders directing two Indiana coal-fired power plants to remain open through mid-December, citing regional power grid reliability.
The directive, announced Sept. 19 by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, targets specific units at the R.M. Schahfer and F.B. Culley generating stations. Both facilities had generation units slated for retirement at the end of 2025. Under the orders, which take effect Sept. 20 and run through Dec. 18, 2026, plant operators Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) and CenterPoint Energy, along with grid manager Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), must keep those units available to run.
The Department of Energy first issued emergency orders for the Schahfer and Culley facilities on Dec. 23, 2025. Agency officials said the plants provided necessary power during periods of peak demand and low intermittent generation, including during Winter Storm Fern. According to the agency’s Resource Adequacy Report, shutting down baseload generation too quickly raises the likelihood of grid failures during severe weather.
“Forcing reliable, dispatchable coal generation off the grid would compromise energy reliability and needlessly raises energy costs for Americans,” Wright said in a statement. “Midwestern families should not be forced to pay the price for the misguided energy subtraction policies of the past. They deserve affordable, reliable, and secure energy, regardless of the wind blowing or the sun shining.”
Coal Mining (Unsplash)
The administration stated that federal interventions prevented more than 17 gigawatts of coal power from retiring nationwide in 2025.
The Indiana directive comes amid ongoing legal challenges over the executive branch’s use of emergency powers to intervene in utility operations. Just one week prior to the Indiana announcement, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated an emergency order Wright issued in May 2025 that kept Michigan’s J.H. Campbell coal plant operating past its planned shutdown date. The court ruled that the department exceeded its emergency authority in that case.